Northwestern University Athletics
Four Wildcats Reach Semifinals
12/29/2007 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Dec. 29, 2007
EVANSTON, Ill. -- At the end of the first day of Midlands "45," Northwestern continues to make a strong showing in sixth place as it competes for the team title at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
While six wrestlers qualified for the quarterfinals, four continued on to wrestle in Sunday's semifinals.
Sophomore Brandon Precin has advanced to the semifinals with a pin at 2:30 over Akif Eren of Pudue. Precin has two pins on the tournament, which puts him in a tie for second place for the most pins. His fasted coming in the quarters. Sunday's match will be Precin's first in the semifinals, where he wrestles three-time Midlands champion Nick Simmons.
Both Keith Sulzer and Eric Metzler lost their bouts to the No. 2 seeds in the quarterfinals. It took more than four overtimes to unseat Suzler.
Junior Dominic Marella is set to face second-seeded Mark Perry from Iowa following three-straight victories, all won by a decision. Perry is the defending champion at that weight class. For Marella, it will be his first bout in the semifinals at the Midlands.
All-Americans Mike Tamillow and Dustin Fox followed suit and both reached the semifinal rounds for the second-consecutive year with ease, each gliding through the first three rounds while receiving a bye in the first. Tamillow faces Central Michigan's Wynn Michalak, who is the third seed. Fox is set to do battle with Iowa State's Dave Zabriskie, who holds the No. 5 seed at 285 lbs.
Senior Nick Hayes remains alive in the wrestleback portion of the 174 lb. bracket and faces No. 3 Duke Burk from Northern Illinois on the third session. Earlier in the day, he lost a hard-fought battle to 2007 NCAA All-Amerian Mike Miller of Central Michigan. Junior Marty Gould is also alive in the wrestlebacks, going against Grant Paswall of Illinois on Sunday.
Midlands "45" Notes
• Iowa State won the team title in 2006 and finds itself in a familiar place atop the standings after the first day of the Midlands in 2007. Iowa State is leading Iowa and Central Michigan with a score of 90.5 overall. The Cyclones have a total of six wrestlers left in the semifinals.
• Again just behind Iowa State is Iowa with five wrestlers remaining in the finals. Central Michigan, Illinois and Northwestern all have four still fighting for a title. Tennessee-Chattanooga does not have any wrestlers remaining in the championship rounds, but does lead the field with seven wrestlers in the wrestlebacks.
• Individually, at 125 lbs., Angel Escobedo of Indiana returns to the semifinals to defend his title, while Michigan State's Nick Simmons dropped down to 125 lbs. and is also in the semis. Simmons won last year's Midlands at 133 lbs.
• Alex Tsirtsis of Iowa came into the 141 lb. weight class as the No. 1 seed and fell to Corey Jantzen of Harvard. Both wrestlers took part in the Midlands as high schoolers, but were meeting for the first time at Midlands.
• Illinois' Mike Poeta wrestled his way into the semifinals of the 157 lb. weight class as the defending champion. At 184 lbs., Jake Herbert returned to Midlands "45" as a two-time defending champion. The Olympic redshirt did not wrestle at the Championships last year.
• Northwestern's defending Midlands champion Mike Tamillow is on a collision course to face No.-1 seeded Josh Glenn (American) with the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds still in play.
• Six wrestlers finished the day with three falls, which tied for the most in the tournament after one day. Jesse Linczmaier of Northern Illinois earned the fastest fall, when he downed his 165-lb. opponent in the first round of wrestlebacks in 30 seconds.
• Three weight classes remain with all four top seeds still in play for the semifinals: 133, 157 and 197 lbs.
Please continue to check this page for continuous updates on brackets and team standings throughout the tournament.
